Clemency and Reasons
by CookiesForMe
Summary: Sort of an oneshot tag to 3x08 as prompted by Country2776 where Jane discovers Lisbon has helped out Linus Wagner with clemency. No bad language, no violence, but not especially fluffy either. no good at summaries sorry. Please R&R X


**(A/N): This is a short oneshot from a PM from Country2776 about Jane finding out Lisbon helped Linus Wagner. It was just supposed to be a scene in one of my other fics, but I figured it would probably be better to be put up as an oneshot. This is set maybe halfway through season 4, as that's how long I think it would take for Lisbon to ask for clemency, the judges to agree, and Linus to be moved to a different jail. So, here we go. I don't think this is the best in the world, but it will still go up here anyway. Please tell me what you think…**

**I do not own the mentalist.**

**Clemency and Reasons**

Jane walked into his superior officer's office with a frown on his face, holding a loosely folded piece of paper in his hands as he didn't bother with knocking, choosing instead to just barge in like usual.

"What's up Jane?" Lisbon asked worriedly, looking up for a glance to Jane's confused and frowning face.

"I'm just confused." He answered, sitting in front of her desk in one of the chairs. Lisbon frowned herself before going back to the file she was reading. "Lisbon, you remember when I was taken by Rachel a while back? How did you find me? How did you find who had taken me?"

"Huh?" Lisbon looked up. "Oh, um, we found some letters that lead to us finding out Rachel took you. Why do you ask?"

"Found?"

"Um, Linus Wagner had them and told me he knew who had taken you. Still, why do you want to know Jane?"

"Why would he want to help me? He tried to kill me himself when I found out he had murdered those people."

"Clemency." Lisbon muttered under her breath as she gripped the file even tighter. She hated the fact she had had to help Wagner in order to find Jane. She wouldn't regret it though. She would have done it all again in a heartbeat.

"What?" Jane asked, confused.

"Clemency, Jane!"

"What?" Jane asked again, this time sounding incredulous. "He killed and mutilated two people Lisbon! He didn't deserve clemency! Not from you, not from anyone!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Lisbon asked loudly, throwing the file she had been reading between them on the desk. "I know that Jane, I even told him to go to hell and that I would be in the first row watching when he was killed! But I didn't exactly have many options at the time!"

"He's a murderer, Lisbon! He killed two people in cold blood!"

"So? He gave us the letters. There would have been no way we would have found you in time otherwise. I wasn't going to let you die."

"You could have found another way, Lisbon. He didn't deserve to be brought off death row!"

"I know! I know Jane! But I didn't have another choice! It was either accepting that offer or watching the coroners as they brought out your dead body! I chose the lesser evil Jane! Sorry if you don't agree with that, but the decision was mine to make and I made it!"

"I still don't know why you did it, Lisbon."

"And I still don't know why you wanted to know in the first place, Jane."

"Here," He handed the piece of paper over to Lisbon briskly, who opened it immediately out of curiosity and read the contents quickly.

_Dear Mister Jane,_

_I am writing to tell- well, ask you to thank Agent Lisbon on my behalf, if you would please. Thanks to all she has said and done on my behalf, I find this top security jail to be very comfy and much better than Death Row. When you are no longer on Death Row, you have this… gratefulness, this thankfulness for life, even the simple things in it. So please tell Agent Lisbon how much I appreciate all she has done for me, even if it wasn't exactly voluntary on her part. Still, I also thought you might be interested to know that I am no longer going to die for what I have done. I hope you are feeling well and congratulations on getting away with your murder. Not all of us have the same good luck that you do in matters like those._

_Linus Wagner (No longer Dr, shame, but still, I guess I can live with that)._

Lisbon looked up with understanding on her features as she glanced at Jane's angry face. "I still did what I thought was right at the time, Jane. I will deal with the consequences if anything goes wrong and everyone knows that."

"Why would you do something like that in the first place, Lisbon?"

"Because I care, Jane!"

"Huh?"

"You remember when you went to prison? I spent so long trying to get you out, searching desperately for anything, **anything** that could help me get you out. I will always do everything I can to save you Jane!"

"Why?"

"Why do you care so much about my reasons for things?" Lisbon said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I-" Jane stammered, looking for the right words without being too specific.

"Exactly, Jane. We can't say all we really want to. Maybe not ever. We have both had our hearts thrown about and stamped upon too much. The way things are now; this is probably the closest we will get to confessing anything or becoming more until Red John is gone. I'm fine with that. I'll just continue to save you, like always." She smiled sadly and kissed his cheek gently. "Patrick, don't worry about the clemency too much. I'd do all of that again and more for you, given the choice. I would do it all in a heartbeat."

"I know," Jane whispered so that only Lisbon could just barely hear him. "And I will always save you too, regardless of whether you think you need saving or not, Teresa. Remember that, please."

"I will."

**THE END**


End file.
